


Otter Pops

by MsSpaceAce



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Magic, Cane User!Deceit, Human Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Human Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Human Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Human Deceit Sanders, Human Logic | Logan Sanders, Human Morality | Patton Sanders, Human Sleep | Remy Sanders, I suck at descriptions please just give this a try, Multi, Wheelchair User!Missy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23971084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsSpaceAce/pseuds/MsSpaceAce
Summary: Dr. Picani and Brother’s Pop and Stop Soda Emporium is hiring! And four teenage boys, Logan, Roman, Patton, and Virgil, are desperate for jobs. Logan wants the job experience for college, Roman wants to flirt with customers, Patton's just happy to spend time with his best buddies, and Virgil wants his mom to leave him alone and to get out of the house. Picani hires them all right on the spot, but seems to be hiding something. Why else would he spend so much time in the basement, where weird noises and odd smells come from at all hours of the day? The boys are determined to figure out what's up. The can of worms it opens is something no one could have expected, bringing them closer together as a dark figure threatens to ruin their summer vacation
Relationships: Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit Sanders, LAMP/CALM
Kudos: 14





	1. Logan

**V: uuuuugh**   
**L: What is the matter this time?**   
**V: i hate my parents. and my brother**   
**L: ?**   
**V: he must’ve said something, now my parents are breathing down my neck to get a job, which is the *last* thing i need right now**   
**V: fucker’s probably snickering to himself right now, him and his buddies snatched up the last good jobs too**   
**L: Your brother certainly is the devious type.**   
**V: no shit sherlock**   
**L: But I might have a solution for you.**   
**V: ?**   
**L: Is it okay if I come pick you up?**   
**V: oh HELL yes, pls get me out of this house**   
**L: I’ll be there in five minutes. Please be prompt coming out, I don’t like idling. It ruins the car.**   
**V: gotcha**

Seven minutes later, the two boys were on the road. Virgil stared out the window, watching the fields go by. He’d grumbled something about his hair as he’d gotten in, a point of contention between him and his mother. Logan quite liked his purple bangs, how they lit up his eyes and made the ghost of a smile appear on the boy’s face whenever he looked in the mirror. Logan enjoyed his smiles, his laughter. He wished he could bring it about more often.

He shook his head. _Focus on driving, Logan, not on your fallacy of a crush. Nothing good will result of it._

“We headed into town? Where is this thing?” Virgil asked quietly, leaning forward to watch as the fields turned to small houses and shopfronts.

“Just a little place Patton recommended to me. He thinks we’d both enjoy it there, and for once I believe him wholeheartedly.” Logan eyed him as they drew nearer and nearer, and his stomach twisted slightly as his friend’s expression morphed from confusion to fear.

“No. Fuck no. I’m not working here.” Virgil pulled up his hood, slouched down and crossed his arms. “Fuck you.”

Logan sighed. “I’m sorry, I thought you were desperate, plus... Patton works here.”

“Yeah, but so does _he!_ I don’t like putting up with his shit, you know this Lo.”

“I have no idea who you’re referring to,” Logan said as he got out of the car and sidled up to the passenger side. “You’d have to refer to him by name for me to know who you’re talking about.”

He could practically hear Virgil growl in frustration through the window, but it was suddenly drowned out by a loud, flamboyant voice behind him.

“LOGAAAN! Patton, my Prince Charming has arrived!”

He smirked and turned. “Hello to you too Roman. I still think it’d be more accurate to call you the prince, what with your surname and all.”

“Oh don’t kill the mood, Specs.” Roman grumbled, opening his arms wide. A universal gesture asking for a hug. Logan complied, if only for a brief moment, before he pulled back and adjusted his glasses. “I brought Virgil—“

“You did?!” Patton nearly squealed, running up to the passenger side window to wave at the grumpy teen. Logan felt his watch buzz, a notification for a text.

**V: you’re an ass. a complete and total ass. i hate you.**

“I did, and he’s in need of a job. Damien—“

“Oh _that_ asshole,” Barked Roman, crossing his arms over his chest. “He waltzed in here the other day looking for a job, then acted all pompous and aloof when he got rightfully denied, said he’d already heard back from five other employers.”

“Yes, we know, we heard, can I please finish relaying what I know to you? Damien must’ve said something to Virgil’s parents, because now they’re pushing him to get a job. I wanted to apply because I’d like to get to know Dr. Picani better.”

“Wait.” Patton turned and looked between Logan and the storefront. “Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. You mean... you and Virgil are going to work here?!”

“Well, yes, if I can get Virgil out of the car and if Dr. Picani accepts our applications, then we will work here.”

Patton didn’t seem to hear him, instead doing his signature happy dance on the pavement. “This is gonna be the best! Summer! Ever!” For emphasis, Patton jumped once for the last three words in his sentence. It elicited a laugh from Roman, a grin from Logan, and the quiet opening of a car door from Virgil.

They watched as he slowly peeled back his hoodie, looking grimly up at the storefront, then down at Patton. “Will it really make you that happy?”

The tenderness in his voice made Logan’s heart ache. He wished Virgil would speak that way to him, but...

Virgil had a crush on Patton. Patton had a crush on Roman, and Roman...

Well, Roman was in love with the world.

Logan had no idea if Roman had a crush on anyone, but the other two had enough faith in Logan to confide in him their secrets. He had no idea why, he struggled with keeping and maintaining friendships with people who weren't adult teachers outside of these three, but he was grateful for their trust. He was also well aware that one wrong move or word could cause someone's secret to come out and very well jeopardize all of their friendships. He'd seen it enough in Roman's cheesy "chick flick" movies. He would do anything to keep that from happening.

Logan's momentary reprieve was broken by another squeal from Patton, then the two of them rushing past him to the storefront. Stopping right before they hit the doors, (literally; Patton'd almost forgotten to grab the handle) Patton let go of Virgil and rushed to grab Roman and Logan's hands, pulling them all into a large group huddle, almost. "Welcome..." Patton said in an announcer voice, clearly imitating Roman, who would've laughed if he wasn't watching Patton, “to Dr. Picani and Brother’s Pop and Stop Soda Emporium!”


	2. Roman

Roman could never quite tell what Virgil's deal was.

I mean, the kid was odd, certainly. He loved going to visit creepy, abandoned houses and showed absolutely none of his usual anxiety and fear. But here, in a brightly lit diner looking like it was pulled straight from the 1920's? Well, if the heaving of his chest told Roman anything, Virge was on the verge of hyperventilating. 

Roman put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as they moved into the shop, and attempted to bolster his confidence with a wide smile. No such luck. In fact, it only seemed to make Virgil angrier, as he scowled and pulled himself away. His breathing had calmed though, so that put Roman at ease.

"You good, dude?" he asked quietly.

He didn't know how, but Virgil's scowl grew even darker. "Fuck no I'm not okay man, you know how much I hate the dude who runs this." He glared at Logan. "I might be desperate for a job, but I'm not that desperate to try to work with this fucker."

Roman watched as Patton dragged Logan over to show him one of the displays, rambling on and on while he and Virgil hung back by the front entrance. "What is your deal with Picani, anyways? He might be a little out there, sure, but he's not a bad dude."

"He reminds me of my mom."

"Oof, really?"

"Yes, really, blondie, there's no way someone can act that kind and calm and supportive all the time and not be planning to fuck us over sometime later. He's up to something, I can feel it."

Roman blew out a breath, thinking. "Well, I've spent a couple of weeks around him already, and nothing's set me off about him yet."

"Oh, like how the lady at Target never set you off when she stole twenty bucks from you?" Virgil snapped back

"Dude, she was really old and looked like she needed help--"

"What about that girl at the pool, flirting with you so much you lost your job?"

"I lost my job because my boss is a homophobic dickhead and she lied about me, that's--"

"What about my brother then, huh?"

" _I get it_ , Virgil. You don’t gotta remind me of that.” Roman snapped, then stared across the shop, purposefully avoiding his friend’s gaze until he felt Virgil relax.

“Sorry, dude,” Virgil muttered. “Didn’t… I know…”

“I poked the bear and got the claws, it’s alright, buddy. I’m not mad.” Roman chuckled, trying to fake a friendly smile.

He really wasn’t mad at Virgil. His mom was a master debater and an (unlicensed) therapist, he knew Virgil tended to blurt the best defense he could think of in that moment so he could get his mom off his back. He’d seen it in use before, normally aimed at Logan or other adults, but… Roman really didn’t need a reminder of how much a dumbass he’d been last summer.

His eyes wandered around the shop as the two of them faded back into a comfortable silence. He finally settled on watching Patton and Logan stand in front a stand of a mixture of candies and the sodas that complimented them. Patton was doing his usual, dorky selling scheme of talking a mile a minute excitedly while he ran around the stand, pointing out _this_ and _that_ and _oh you should totally check this out, I’m sure you’d love it!..._

Meanwhile, Logan stood still, a smile working its way onto his face as he examined everything before him.

Roman hoped he liked what he saw. Hell, he _wanted_ Logan to like it. He’d stayed after last night after Dr. Picani went home and even Pat’d called it quits, building up and dismantling all the displays, over and over, until they were perfect. Perfectly balanced, perfect complimentary colors, perfect shape, everything… 

Well, everything had to be as perfect as Logan was. All sharp-dressed and spotless specs. Roman had no idea why Logan chose to wear a tie everyday, but goddamn if that didn’t make him want to grab it and pull him into a deep, searing kiss, and then--

“Roman, you’re blushing again.”

Virgil chuckled as Roman let out a choked squawk and smacked him on the shoulder. Of course, Patton and Logan had to turn and look. Roman tried to play it off like he was brushing something off of Virgil’s shoulder, nothing more, no reason his face was as hot as the sun. He could swear that he could see a similar blush on Logan’s face, whatever that meant--

“Oh, Mr. Sanders! Lemme get that door for you!”


	3. Patton

Patton rushed past Roman and Virgil to grab the door, beaming wildly as he heard Mr. Sanders’s familiar laugh behind the massive stack of boxes hiding him. He helped guide the boxes to an empty spot on the counter, then tapped Mr. Sanders on the shoulder quickly. “Mr. Sanders, I’d like you to meet two more of my best friends, Virgil aaaaand Logan!”

He gestured wildly to his two buddies. Logan simply gave a nod, while Virgil seemed to recess further into his sweatshirt. Mr. Sanders gave a small wave. “Hi, um, now, lemme guess, Logan is the one with the tie and glasses, and Virgil has the cool sweatshirt?”

Logan raised a brow as he nodded curtly. “That would be… correct, how did you know?”

“A little birdie told me.”

“I’m a birdie!” Patton cried, bringing his hands to his cheeks in an attempt to hide the blush that sprang forth on his cheeks. “I just get so gosh darn excited about how amazing you all are that… sometimes I end up rambling to Mr. Sanders about it. I’m sorry if… that… makes any of you uncomfortable…” He grew quieter with every word, his blush growing worse as he pulled back further and further into his chest and a hot and heavy knot grew within his chest.

Just as he felt he was on the verge of tears, Logan coughed and readjusted his tie. “Do not worry, Patton, I find it very admirable that you care so much for all of us.” He grinned slightly. “Dare I say it… it’s eggs-citing.”

The diner erupted in laughter as Patton immediately doubled over giggling and Roman barked out a surprised laugh. “Oh my god, a pun?! Really?! You’re the worst, Logan.” He weaved his way through the group to sling his arm over Patton’s shoulder. “How dare you assault the youngest of our group with such awful humor?”

Patton continued to giggle quietly. His embarrassment quickly turned into an emotion he’d dubbed “nervouscited”, where his heart raced like he was about to panic, but he liked it. It happened a lot when Roman was around. “I-I guess everything’s okay then!”

Mr. Sanders laughed. “And I guess it’s a good thing that Roman’s always this overdramatic, even outside of class and off the stage.” When he was met with three looks of confusion, the older man sighed. “I work as the drama teacher, at your high school? I do community theatre events and stuff too, Logan, c’mon, I’ve sat in the back of your physics class before!”

Logan shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t seem to place you, though… physics and theatre? That’s an eclectic mix of interests.”

“I originally went to college for engineering, spent almost a year and a half on that track. Nearly gave my academic advisor a heart attack when I told him I was switching, but thankfully I didn’t have to change much, seeing as all I’d done so far were Gen-eds, y’know?”

Logan nodded, stroking his chin. “Interesting… That’s something you can do?”

As Mr. Sanders continued to discuss college with Logan (and an occasionally interrupting Roman), Patton shifted his attention to Virgil.

He’d been completely silent since Mr. Sanders had come in, if not before that, which either meant he was taking in the new situation and the new person, or he’d gone into panic mode and was close to a breakdown. As much as it pained him to do so, Patton shrugged off Roman’s arm and shuffled up to Virgil. “Hey there,” He said quietly, giving him a little wave. “How ya doin’?”

“Fine.” Virgil muttered, keeping his eyes glued to the floor.

That was fine, Virgil didn’t really like looking anyone in the face when he talked, made him uncomfortable, but he had his own ways of showing he was listening. Like now, in the way he tilted his head and turned his body ever so slightly towards Pat. “Wh-why’d you ask?”

“Well, you just seemed a bit… uncomfortable, that’s all! I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Oh don’t worry Pat, that’s my secret, I’m always uncomfortable.” He tried for a weak smile, then seemed to wince.

Patton looked a bit closer and saw that Virgil’s cheeks were as pink as he suspected his own had been a few moments before. “You sure you don’t have a fever or something? You’re awfully pink…”

“I said I was fine, didn’t I?!” Virgil snapped. “I… I swear, I’m okay, I just… I’m thinking about a few things right now.”

“…You wanna talk about it?”

“Sure.” Virgil reached up and fixed his bangs, brushing them out of his eyes. “I’ll share with you the deepest and darkest of my thoughts right now, Pat, I totally wanna burden you with that in this exact moment.”

Patton furrowed his brow in worry. “That wouldn’t be a burden at all, Virge. I’m… I’m your friend. It’s my job to make sure you’re okay, or at the very least try to make you feel better. Now c’mon, Mr. Sanders isn’t all that scary.”

“He’s not the bit that’s freaking me out. Look, I… I told you about my deal with Picani, right?”

Patton was about to say no, but then thought a moment longer before two and two came together and his stomach dropped a bit. “Oh heck.”

“Oh heck is right. I dunno if I’m gonna be able to do this.”

“Virgil I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to push you in here in any way, I completely forgot—”

“Push me? No, no, if anything that was Logan, I… I actually wasn’t gonna mind spending time with you. A-and everyone else, too, don’t get me wrong!” Virgil laughed breathlessly and brought his hands up in a surrender position. “I love spending time with y’all, just… I’d like to know when I’m gonna have to go into what I thought was hell on earth.”

Patton nodded, then chuckled a bit. “When did you start saying y’all?”

“When Mrs. Blood started using it in Latin for conjugations. It’s so weird, right, but… I just can’t stop.”

Slowly, Patton could see Virgil relaxing. He stopped hunching his shoulders and started emoting with his hands a bit. He’d even looked up now, not directly looking at Patton but close enough.

Mr. Sanders suddenly called out his name. “Hey Pat, what’re you thinkin’ of going to school for?

Patton smiled brightly as he swung about to face Mr. Sanders. “Oh, I’m not going to college!”


	4. Virgil

It felt like cold ice had been dumped down Virgil’s spine as Patton said that. It took everything in him not to immediately bolt for the door, though some logical part of his brain that was still functioning mentioned that there was no real threat around. Mr. Sanders even smiled and nodded when Patton finished, looking not even the slightest bit mad! Why would there be any trouble?

Yet Virgil’s heart still pounded as he waited, panic rising as Mr. Sanders shifted his attention from Patton to him, and then asked that dreaded question.

“And how about you, Virgil? What’re your plans for college?”

He felt his breath catch in his throat as he struggled to come up with an answer. _Med school. Just lie and say med school, like what you told mom, he didn’t get mad at Patton but he might remember and tell mom later that you don’t really know, you want to go to school but you don’t know yet but you need to say something, just say med school so nobody gets mad and yells and calls you worthless just **say it—**_

“I don’t know!” Virgil finally gasped, trying to hide his panic with a sharp, wide smile and a quick shrug. “Probably med school, but um… I really…don’t know.”

_Great. Good going you idiot, you fucked everything up, now mom’s gonna be pissed and scream for days again and you’ll never be able to do what you want to do, except you don’t know what that is, do you? Because you’re just a complete and worthless dumbass who can’t make a fucking descision to save his li—_

“Hey! Same!” Patton cheered, offering a high five. His cheer shook Virgil out of his stupor and made him turn, glassy eyed, to give Patton a weak high five. To make matters worse, instead of being disappointed and pulling away like he rightfully should’ve, he instead interlaced their fingers together and brought them down, holding hands side by side

This sent Virgil’s heart into a new kind of overdrive. His anxiety over college was fading to be replaced by something almost worse: the ever-permeating love and fear he had for Patton. Every moment their hands were together was utter bliss and yet utter hell. How he wished he could stand closer to him, maybe even put his hand around his shoulders and kiss him on the cheek, on those brown freckles that shone like stars and sparkled when he smiled. Something gay like that, he didn’t know.

But every time he tried to, a tight spiral of anxiety seemed to reach up into his throat and tear his voice away, freeze his limbs until they hung useless at his sides. It sucked, 'cause he knew Patton loved physical affection, but he just couldn’t seem to give it to him. Pat deserved better.

They stood in a comfortable, if not odd kind of silence as the three others returned to their conversation. Virgil considered laying his head on Patton’s shoulder, he considered doing a million things until it seemed his mind was running in circles again and everything felt dull around him.

God, how the fuck could he be so uselessly gay?

“Well, it’s good to know you kiddos are thinking about those kinds of things.” Mr Sanders piped up, looking to include him and Patton again. “I remember it took Emile forever to pick a major, so don’t worry about knowing what you wanna do as soon as you graduate. You’ll do fine!”

Virgil nodded robotically. This guy sounded like every other adult he talked to about college, oh you’ll be just fine, nobody has it figured out, blah blah blah. It was always so, so much more fucking complicated than that, but he never wanted to let anyone know because… well, it was none of their damn buisness. He didn’t want to worry anyone. So he just… smiled and nodded and let them move on with their lives and pretended like he was too.

Logan coughed again. “Sorry, Mr. Sanders, but I don’t think any of us came here to merely chat about college, as wonderful as it was to speak to you about it. I’m aware Patton and Roman already have secured jobs here, but I was… wondering if you had two more spots open? For me and Virgil?”

Mr. Sanders thought to himself for a moment, and the boys around him all tensed. “You know… normally we have a bunch of paperwork that you guys have to fill out, a whole interview process, but…” He looked lazily at the massive stack of boxes. “I’ve been talking to you two long enough, that counts as an interview, right? And if you carry those boxes back into storage, we can handle the paperwork later and you can technically start today. That work for you?”

“Perfect.” Logan said with a smile, though Virgil could see the slight pain in his eyes. He was probably checking off boxes in the back of his head, exploring all the possibilities of where this might go and liking absolutely none of them. Not that Virgil liked many of them either, but… they both needed this. Even if it was gonna suck. A lot. But hey, they were with friends so… that made up for it?

Virgil shoved his anxiety down one last time and darted forward, flashing Mr. Sanders the biggest, most confident smile he could muster. “That sounds amazing, mister! Thank you so much! We’ll get right on that for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me at @ms-space-ace on tumblr!


End file.
